Mazda6 gets star billing

Mazda already has a couple of big claims to make about its just-launched Mazda6.

Mazda6 gets star billing

The handsome 626 replacement has won a gong from the NRMA for having the lowest low-speed crash repair cost of any mid-size car. It's also said to be cheaper to run than the 626 it replaces.

The NRMA Insurance low speed crash test, which replicates hitting a car at 30kmh or a solid barrier at 15kmh, found that the cost of repairing the Mazda6 was $3013, including parts and labour. This compares with the insurer's 2001 Low Speed Crash Test findings for other medium cars, which Mazda says came in between $458 and $1913 dearer.

You won't be surprised to hear that Mazda is happy to report that last year's tests pegged Toyota Camry CSi 2.2 repairs at $3471; the Subaru Liberty RX cost $3848, while the Holden Vectra GL repair bill was $4926.

After some serious work on the calculator, Mazda says its new car's repair bill is 8.9 percent of its purchase price, in this case a $33,785 Classic automatic sedan. This compares with the Subaru's 9.9 percent of its $38,880 purchase price and the Vectra's 17.2 percent of its $28,570 price.

Mazda also says that of the nine medium and large cars tested by NRMA Insurance – which included the Honda Accord V6 and Holden Commodore in the 2001 survey – only the outgoing Ford Falcon had a lower repair figure than the Mazda6.

Services costs also are said to be improved over those of the 626, with the scheduled service time for the first three years or 60,000km for a manual Mazda6 Classic being reduced by 50 percent from 12.8 hours to 6.4 hours.

Mazda says this reduction in service time has helped cut the cost of Mazda6 ownership over the first three years by 36 percent.